Bishop, Thou Art Hungry

Admit it, when you first saw this magazine cover you wondered to yourself, "Does T.D. Jakes get enough sausage?" Apparently, the answer is no.

Bishop T.D. Jakes went home--to Charleston, West Virginia--this weekend to be feted during a multi-culti throwdown called, appropriately, Multifest. Thousands turned out to cheer the man who has become one of the best-known evangelical ministers in the world--the man Time once called "the next Billy Graham" and a "Pentecostal media mogul." But this odd story from The Charleston Gazette chooses not to dwell on his achievements or message or the influence of Potter's House, but focuses instead on Jakes' tummy and what goes inside it. To wit:

"Charleston Mayor Danny Jones recalled how Jakes used to eat at his Nitro rib house when Jakes led a Cross Lanes church. 'Every Sunday around 2 o'clock, this big man would come in,' Jones said. 'I thought, boy, they must have late services there.

'He made us all proud of who he is and what he does, and Charleston got stuck with me.'

Jakes returned the favor, saying he probably paid for Jones' suit with all the ribs he bought."

And Jakes also had this to say: "I was hoping someone would bring me some sausage. I got all these plaques, but no one gave me sausage." I think we've found the title of his next inspirational book. --Robert Wilonsky